I'm pretty sure all of us readers have been through a reading slump. Some of us might have taken weeks or months (or even years - who knows) before we were able to pick up a book again and actually read.

There was a time when I wasn't in the mood to read at all and if I remember, it almost lasted a year or maybe it did but I just forced myself to read for the sake of my Goodreads challenge - yeah, not an ideal thing to do. Never again because it felt like I'm doing it for the numbers and not for my love to read.

So here are some of the things that help me motivate to read again. Not a guarantee that I actually finish the book because sometimes the slump just overpowers but it's still a big thing (for me anyway) that I am able to pick up a book and actually start it. Well, it also depends on the story if it's engaging enough for me to go on. I mean that doesn't also guarantee if I'll finish the book but I'm a mood reader so sometimes that helps too.

— REREADING MY FAVORITE BOOKS
Or "skimming" my favorite books and then read my favorite parts/scenes. This happened a lot of times already and I saw a pattern and took note of it.  This always (okay a stretch, let's say most of the time instead) helps because I either end up rereading the whole book or I go pick a new read from the same genre as the book I skimmed/reread. Getting motivated to read again doesn't necessarily mean you only get to read the NEW BOOKS (whether newly released or "new" as in from the backlog). It can also be those books you've read from a long long time ago and you want to relive the experience of reading it again like the first time.

— SETTING UP A TBR
A TBR was never my thing in the past, still isn't really right now, but lately I've been making some and so far it's helped me get my motivation back. I'm still not good at being able to read everything that's on the list but I've managed to make progress enough to make me proud (lowkey a lie because I'm still hoping one day I'd actually read everything I pile on this mountain of books). 

— FANARTS AND/OR EDITS
A looootttt of talented people make fanarts and edits of their favorite books or recently read books and I'm glad to be following some of these people on Instagram. Their works are definitely a big motivator for me. Not only are their works attracting my eyes with their visually-pleasing aesthetics or illustrations, they also introduce me to books I've never heard of. Getting to read what they think of the book/s in their posts is one thing but seeing a visual image of what it's about is another.

— CURIOSITY
This is connected to fanarts and/or edits because I get curious and end up on Goodreads searching for the book. My curiosity usually gets a hold of me and I want to thank books with attention-gripping synopsis. There are those books too with synopsis that aren't really that gripping, like sometimes in romance, but they're enough for me to wonder "Hmm.. I wanna know what these characters are gonna go through even though I know a 100% that they're gonna end up together in the end" - something like that. 

— MUSIC, ESPECIALLY THE SAPPY KIND
I've associated a lot of my favorite characters/OTPs with songs. Love songs. The sappy kind of love songs. Whenever I listen to these songs, I get reminded of them. And when I get reminded of them, I go skim their book. And after that I find myself rereading from the first page (happened a few times). Like please.. I get emotional and start missing them and their book's looking at me like "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GO READ ME AGAIN". I cave most of the time.

— MY MOOD
Like I said, I'm a mood reader and this is pretty.. generic? I don't know the term but it's quite obvious that our moods play a big role in this. But there are times too when I feel like I'm in the mood to read yet I always go "I'll start this later" and later becomes tomorrow, becomes the day after that, the next week, month, then never. So yeah,

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And going back to what I said, the thing about getting motivated to read again doesn't ultimately apply to reading the new books. Picking up a book, whether new to you or something you've read before, is already an achievement I think.

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Oh the series that I told myself I would read but never did.

Here are the TOP 9 (alright they're not really in order but I just wanna call it that) books I planned on reading this year but my ever-so-distracted-by-other-books self failed to do so. I think I've removed some of them from my Goodreads TBR too since I did a major clean-up earlier this year.

But anyway, here are the 9 and why I didn't bother with them this year oop.

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I was supposed to marathon this series ever since I finished the Storm & Fury aka the first book of the spin-off, The Harbinger. But I decided to just do the marathon once Rage & Ruin (book 2) is close so after I finish TDE, I'd dive back right in the spin-off for a fresh memory... even though I've reread S&F 4x already but whatever, I love Trinity (she became one of my ultimate favorite heroines EVER) and Zayne.

I've enjoyed and loved Holly Black's previous works - The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and The Curse Workers Series - but I am trying to get into this and so far it's not happening anytime at all this year. I don't know if it's the hype (which is pretty overwhelming by the way) because the problem with me is that if ever a book/series is hyped a lot, I'm scared to end up not liking it.


Oh look, another book I failed to read this year even though I've been telling myself I'll read it before 2019 ends.

I know this is YA but I think it's borderline NA too? Not sure lol, I have a feeling though. Anyway, I have the entire series though I don't know if it's still ongoing but I have the 4 books. I really wanna get into this series and I think it's a companion series so that works too. It's rare to have a companion series in a fantasy genre.

I think - I THINK - this was one of the books I removed from my TBR when I was cleaning it. I've been in the mood for some mystery/thriller contemporary lately so I'm getting back on track starting with this.



I'm slacking off on reading Kasie West's books.
Really.

I've actually started this but didn't make it past chapter 3 because I read this via physical copy and it wasn't mine. I had to return the copy to the owner who was going away but now I have it on ebook so it's TIME.

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I've been reading romance a lot lately. I mean I've been reading this for years now but nowadays, it's like all I want to read is this. I won't lie, back then I didn't even wanna tell people I read romance because they either laugh at me for reading something so "cliche" or they just look down on romance books. But I grew out of that, I don't even give an f-word anymore *cries I can't curse here so here we are lol*.

This is a random post because I need more content in my blog since I'm quite inactive lately.
And this has been in my drafts for a while now but I just finished editing it so.. 😅

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1. I enjoy the tension between the characters. And I don't mean tension as the negative kind. I meant the kind of tension where both characters are so close to admitting they like each other but it's still not happening. Enemies to lovers? Hate to love? Best friends to lovers? Marriage inconvenience? Idiots to lovers? Friends to enemies to lovers? This one applies to majority of tropes. Nothing screams like "GET TOGETHER ALREADY OH MY GOD" while you're feeling the frustration AND excitement at once.

2. I get amazed by some stories where the author is capable of making me feel all kinds of emotions. Romance authors should really get some credit for how they're able to weave stories that could tug our heartstrings. It's not that easy to write a romance book with a story that can make your readers feel a rush of emotions that either knock them off their feet or have them grinning so wide like a Cheshire Cat or being able to connect with the characters emotionally. There are just those certain books where you have to pause because you're feeling so many things but loving it at the same time. Books that made/make me cry are ones I'm always wow-ed at. I'm a picky romance reader so making me cry is a big deal.

3. Some stories where the main character is successful also makes me feel successful. This is so random but yes. I love reading the main character's journey to success and the things they went through to be there. I feel a sense of pride for the character and I don't know, I love feeling it even if it's just fictional. Some stories are pretty inspiring too. I know this applies to other genres too but with contemporary romance, I feel it so much closer to home since it's set in the real world. I'll give Georgie from Tessa Bailey's Fix Her Up as an example. Georgie is successful with her work because it's something she's passionate about and her main goal is to make her customers - or people - happy, and they are, and it gave me a sense of pride and happiness for her because she fought for that job. It's something she believed in and there's this "WOW I FELT THAT" moment talked about it passionately.

4. Because the romance books I read are contemporary, I see myself in a lot of characters. Back then, I enjoyed this genre (NA/Adult) because the age of the characters and my age are closer. Now, it's more than that. Like my point in number three, it's set in the real world so it's a lot closer to what I also feel in real life. I relate to characters whether their feeling is related to school, or their family, or their love life, or even to the things they want or not want to do. This is where that hashtag #RELATABLE is applicable.

5. Romance has a very wide variety of stories to choose from. It irks me when someone who's never read romance generalizes all books as the typical "CHARACTER A FALLS IN LOVE WITH CHARACTER B AND THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER BLAH" because the ones I've read are so much more than that. Every character has their own story to tell that doesn't just float around inside the romance bubble. There are romance books that also tackle the issues of society and are explored in the story. There are also so many tropes to choose from I mean, you're like eating a buffet.

6. I like to get lost in the couple's love. I don't know if I worded this right but I love feeling the love... you get me.. Like I love reading about their journey of falling in love or falling out of love and then finding each other again. And sure, that moment where you'd find your OTP.

7. I love feeling happy. This is like all the points in one. I love picking up a romance book because most of them put me in a good mood even if the story's journey was rough. The ending's always worth it *granted if the story's good and it has a HEA though

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I don't know if I made enough sense in this post to get message across but like I said, I've been reading more and more romance books these days. I just wanted to express how much I enjoy them and why it's my go-to read. 💖